Environmental Monitoring Report Annual Report January-December 2019 May 2020 L3284-ARM: Seismic Safety Improvement Program Prepared by the Armenian Territorial Development Fund for the Government of the Republic of Armenia and for the Asian Development Bank. 2 This Environmental Monitoring Report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Annual Environmental Monitoring Report _________________________________________________________________________ Project Number: 49078 Jan-Dec 2019 Republic of Armenia: Seismic Safety Improvement Program (Financed by the ADB) Prepared by Armenian Territorial Development Fund Yerevan, Armenia For Asian Development Bank Annual Environmental Monitoring Report _________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 2 1.1 Preamble ........................................................................................................ 2 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND CURRENT ACTIVITIES ........................................ 3 2.1 Program Description ....................................................................................... 3 2.2 Program Contracts and Management ............................................................... 4 2.3 Project Activities during Current Reporting Period .......................................... 8 2.4 Description of Any Changes to Project Design .................................................. 9 3 ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARD ACTIVITIES .................................................. 10 3.1 General Description of Environmental Safeguard Activities ............................ 10 4 RESULTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING ............................................... 12 4.1 Overview of Monitoring Measurements Conducted During Current Period ..... 12 4.2 Overview of Monitoring Non-conformances during Current Period ................ 12 4.3 Unanticipated Environmental Impacts or Risks .............................................. 14 4.4 Waste Management ....................................................................................... 14 4.4.1 Current Period ....................................................................................................... 14 4.5 Health and Safety .......................................................................................... 15 4.5.1 Community Health and Safety ................................................................................ 15 4.5.2 Worker Safety and Health ....................................................................................... 15 4.6 Training........................................................................................................ 16 5 GOOD PRACTICE AND OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT ........................ 17 5.1 Good Practice ............................................................................................... 17 5.2 Opportunities for Improvement ..................................................................... 19 6 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................... 19 6.1 Summary ...................................................................................................... 22 6.2 Recommendations ......................................................................................... 22 7 ANNEX .............................................................................................................. 25 7.1 Summary of NCs detected on construction sites in 2019. ................................. 25 7.2 Waste disposal permissions/agreement ........................................................... 30 7.3 Monitoring compliance and inspection report checklist .................................. 35 Annual Environmental Monitoring Report Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank AEMR Annual Environmental Monitoring Review ARRM Armenian Regional Resident Mission ATDF Armenian Territorial Development Fund EIEC Environmental Impact Expertise Centre EMP Environmental Management Plan IEE Initial Environmental Examination GoA Government of the Republic of Armenia JV Joint Venture MoE Ministry of Environment MoESCS Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport MoTAD Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development PAAR Preliminary Assessment Application Report RA Republic of Armenia SSIP Seismic Safety Improvement Program TSC Technical Supervision Consultant Annual Environmental Monitoring Report 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Preamble 1. This report represents the Annual Environmental Monitoring Report (AEMR) for SEISMIC SAFATY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (SSIP). 2. The report was prepared by ATDF’s environmental safeguard specialist in the frame of annual monitoring reporting to ADB and represents the 2nd AEMR for the Program. 2 Annual Environmental Monitoring Report 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND CURRENT ACTIVITIES 2.1 Program Description 3. The SSIP will support the implementation of National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction by (i) improving school seismic safety to reduce casualties and damages in schools during earthquakes, and (ii) enabling better use of school buildings as shelters for the general public and as focal points for emergency response after earthquakes. 4. The Program supports the objective of equitable and sustainable urban development under the results framework of ADB’s country partnership strategy for Armenia, 2014–2018.1 5. The Loan 3284-ARM for the SSIP was approved on 22 September 2015 and became effective on 22 December 2015. The physical closing date is November 2023. 6. The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development renamed to Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MoTAI) in 2019 is the executing agency and the Armenian Territorial Development Fund (ATDF) is the program implementing agency. The ATDF Board will serve as the program steering committee to oversee the program implementation. It will set the policy guidelines and strategic direction for the program. A focal unit for the program is established in ATDF to monitor and report on progress in attaining DLIs. 7. The program has been classified as ADB’s category “B” for environment. Every project to be included in the SSIP is screened to confirm its environment category based on School selection screening checklist to ensure that any activities, which could fall under ADB’s "A”-category, are excluded from the Program. 1 Country Partnership Strategy: Armenia, 2014–2018. ADB. 2015. Manila. 3 Annual Environmental Monitoring Report 2.2 Program Contracts and Management 8. The organizations and main contractors involved in the Program and related contacts are presented in Table 2-1. 9. At the design phase of school buildings, ATDF’s environmental safeguard specialist worked with the designers’ environmental specialists (see names in Table 2-1) on the preparation of preliminary assessment application reports (PAAR) for each school design. ATDF monitored and provided recommendations on all the documents and procedures required for environmental state expertise to ensure timely implementation of an environmental-related component of the Program. 10. PAARs were prepared for the schools with a construction area of more than 1500 sq m as this type of activities according to the RA law on “Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise” of July, 2014 require environmental state expertise and positive environmental conclusion from the Ministry of Environment (MoE). All the designs of schools requiring environmental state expertise were received positive conclusions from the MoE. 11. For the school (namely Yerevan N 51 school) with a construction area2 less than 1 500 sq m, an initial environmental examination (IEE) 3 report was prepared by the ATDF. The scope and content of the IEE was discussed and agreed with the ADB’s consultant. 12. The environmental management plans (EMP) for each school design were developed by the ATDF‘s environmental safeguard specialist. The EMPs were attached to PAAR, as well as were enclosed in the bidding documents for civil works. 13. At the construction phase of schools, ATDF’s environmental specialists conducted visits to the schools' construction sites according to the monitoring plan. During the site visits, non- compliances with EMPs were communicated with the construction personnel and technical supervision consultant. 14. Requests4 for corrective actions were communicated by the ATDF through emails to contractors and technical supervision consultant (TSC). 2 See paragraph 10. The projects with construction area less than 1 500 sq. m are not a subject for environmental state expertise by the MoE. 3 The IEE report is required for the ADB “B” category projects. The IEE has more limited scope and content than PAAR. 4 See about the request of corrective action in paragraph 27. 4 Annual Environmental Monitoring Report Table 2-1. Main organizations involved in the SSIP in 2019 and their contact details. Contractor Representative Phone number E-mail Program activity ATDF A. Soghomonyan +374 10 247 123 [email protected]